Dispensing mechanism of popped corn into candy floss or the like



Alli] 1940' c. H. COOLEY ET AL 2.198.152

DISPENSING MECHANISM OF POPPED CORN INTO CANDY FLOSS OR THE LIKE FiledJune 17, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS CYZARLESH 0001.51 Hz 911mm B.SMITH BY Xf l ATTORNEY.

April 23, 1940. c. H. COOLEY ET AL DISPENSING MECHANISM OF FOPPED CORNINTO CANDY FLOSS OR THE LIKE Filed June 17, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 2JWENToRJ CJaRLEs fZ Coom HE GINALD B. SMITH ATTORNEY.

l 1940- c. H. COOLEY ET AL 2.198.

DISPENSING MECHANISM OF POPPED CORN INTO CANDY FLOSS OR THE LIKE FiledJune 17, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ATTORNEY.

45 Fig. 8 is an inverted view of the arm at the Patented Apr. 23, 19 n IDISPENSING MECHANISM OF POPPED CORN INTO CANDY FLOSS OR THE LIKE CharlesH. Cooley and Reginald B. Smith, Wichita, Kans.

Application June 17, 19.39, Serial No. 279,726 I 4 Claims. (oi. 107-4)Our invention relates to a dispen ing mechtion adapted to turn or slidelongitudinally in anism of popped corn into candy floss or the like thesleeve with a smooth moving fit. The said and has for its P p l Objectto produce a consleeve has a track 2' secured thereto and being fectionby combining the candy floss and popped spaced at short distancedownward from the up- 5 corn as they leave their respective source ofper end thereof, and having four depressions 2" I pp yequally spacedtherearound, the arm being car- A further object of our invention is toprovide ried by a pair of rollers 4' oppositely positioned a mechanismto which a candy floss machine may and trunnioned on a spindle 4" thatextends be Connected in Such a Way that popped corn disthrough said arm,said rollers to engage on said pensed from the mechanism will enterthefloss track as the arm is turned, seating in the de- 10 along itspath from the ejecting head of said pressions at intervals spacedtherearound for the flossmachine to the wall of a pan carried by thepurpose later described.

floss machine and upon which the substance of The arm above referred tohas a right angle T1055 and P pp 00m Will Contact S u t eo s y bend asat B to provide a horizontally disposed as mixing means for thesubstance. portion, upon which is seated an electric motor 15 A stillfurther object of our invention is to pro- 5 as power actuating means toturn a shaft 5 vide a s w y the pp d corn d r may through the medium ofa belt 1 engaging on ulbe disengaged o C uous operation of the leys 8and 9, the latter named pulley being secured fl ss a n y w h ans p p dcorn may to said shaft 6, and the said shaft being trunbe eliminatedfrom the floss. nioned in bearings l0 and H, bearing l0 being se- 10These and ether Objects Will e afte be cured in the horizontal portionof the arm, while more ul y p a d reference being ad to he bearing H isaxially secured in the bottom 0 of accompanying drawings forming a p Othis hopper I2, said hopper being carried by a pluspecification, and inwhich e C ac Will rality of hangers l3, spaced therearound, it being 2:!app y o like parts n the d e ent views. understood that the upper rim'ofthe hopper is Referring to the drawings! reinforced by "an annular bandM to which one Fig. 1 is a side view of our mechanism and a end of eachhanger is attached, the other ends floss machine as connected, partsremoved for ther of being secured t t horizontally an convenience ofillustration. ranged portion of said arm, as shown in Figs. 1

2 is a P View of Fig. and 2, by which means the said hopper is support-30 3 is an enlarged Year, View of the Supported in axial alignment witha candy floss machine ins le s of t e mechanismthat is seated on saidplate I, and being axially Fig.4 is a Sectional View taken on line insecured thereon by upwardly extending ears l5 Figs- 1 and 6 looking inthe direction of the spaced around the peripheral edge of said plate 35rows, parts removed for convenience of illustrad integrally j inedthereto; the candy floss 35 machine serving as an anchor to maintain an5 IS a Sectional View taken 011 line upright position of the mechanismand in workin i 4. ing relation to each other.

6 is an enlarged sectional View of l The hopper above referred to is acontainer for popped com Qomamer and fragmenta'i'y porno popped corn,and has means in the bottom thereof 40 2; supportmg arm and motor earnedby the consisting of a plurality of apertures l6, through which thepopped corn will pass, said apertures f g ifg g fi iy fi'gg i gzi lgbeing adjacent the said wall of the hopper, spaced apart and from saidwall. To control the flow location of the motor taken on line 8-8 inFig. 6. of the popped F through apertures' is Our inventionhereindisclosed consists ofabase through the medmm of a cflmctmg aperturedplate I, having an outward peripheral extension disc seated 9 the inner51d? of the A upon which a sleeve 2 of a standardis secured m, and beingapproximately the same in and braced by a pair of members 3 o ositediameter and adapted'to turn on shaft 6 to vary 50 extending from thesleeve, the upper ends of said t S the Outlet as the coactihg aperturesbrace members being attached to the sleeve, while are moved selectivelytowar from r i y their lower ends are secured to the said exten- To rnthe di there i ahandle radially sion of plate I. Positioned in the saidsleeve is a extending therefrom and outward through a slot 58 verticallydisposed portion of an arm 4, said por- 19 through the wall of thehopper as means to 55 turn the disc to accomplish a desired flow of thepopped corn.

The wall of the hopper extending downward from its bottom as at D isconical in form, the lower end thereof being open, said wall portion tofunction as a funnel, conducting the popped corn at or near the centerof a revolving distributor, that is secured to and turned by shaft 8,said distributor consisting of a conical member 20, having a hub 2|,through which said shaft 6 extends, and being secured thereon by pin 22extending through the lower end thereof, as shown in Fig. 6. Radiallysecured to the upper side of said conical member is a plurality ofdeflectors 23, each of which is arced at the upper portion thereof, asat E. The said arcs longitudinally terminate a short distance from thehub 2|, by which means the popped corn as it falls on the conical memberis thrown by centrifugal force toward the wall of the candy flossmachine pan 24, the arc of the deflector being means to direct the cornobliquely downward and outward, while other grains of popped corn notcontrolled by the deflectors will be thrown in contact with a screenelement 25, which likewise directs a downward flow of the portion ofpopped corn just referred to. It will be understood that the said screenelement is stationarily carried and'secured to the funnel adjacent itsopening.

To avoid bridging of the popped corn in the hopper, we have arranged ananger '26, wound about a hub 21, through which said shaft 6 extends, andbeing secured thereto as turning means for the auger which repeatedlylifts the center portion of the corn in the hopper which will in turnpass through the said openings [6.

To avoid excess vibration of the distributor, there is positioned braceelements 21', the legs of which tangentially extend from the wall of thehopper, and being secured to said arm 4 as shown in Fig. 1;-furthermore, the mechanism is braced to the neck F of the floss machineby an anchor 28, secured thereto, and to the sleeve of the standard, asshown in Fig. 1; the said anchor, being removably attached, is means toseparate the floss machine from the mechanism.

The operation of the mechanism is to discharge the popped cornsimultaneously through a flow of candy flossthat is radially dischargedfrom a head 29 of the floss machine, that rotates at a high velocity,depositing the floss on the inner wall of the pan, by which arrangementthe floss and the popped corn are mixed as a confection for the market.In other words, the mechanism is arranged to work incoujunction with astandard make of candy floss machines, and whereby the ingredient fromeach is combined as an edible; furthermore, by closing the openings orflow of the popped com, the mech anism may be turned in either directionas indicated by the arrows in Fig. 2, and retained at an angle of ninetydegrees or through a turn of one hundred eighty degrees, in whichpositions the floss machine may be operated independent of themechanism. The rollers engaging in their respective depressions, asheretofore described, is the means to stationarily retain the-hopper atthe points desired, and especially when in working relation to the flossmachine head.

While we have shown a vertically disposed motor as turning means for theauger and distributor, we do not wish to be restricted to such motorposition, as the motor may be horizontally disposed and applied withmodified means to floss together.

connect the same to said shaft i, and such other modification may beemployed as lie within the scope of the appended claims.

Having fully described my invention what we claim as new and desire tosecured by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination with-a candy floss machine, a mechanism comprising apopped corn container, a rotatable distributor to receive popped cornfrom the said container, means to control the flow of the popped cornfrom the container into the distributor and power actuated means torotatethe distributor to eject the corn by centrifugal force while thecandy floss machine is ejecting floss, the floss and popcorn moving insubstantially the same path as they leave their respective source ofejection to mix the corn and 2. In combination with a candy flossmachine, a mechanism comprising a base plate on which said candy flossmachine is seated, a standard secured to said plate, the standardcomprising a sleeve element and an arm rockably carried by the sleeve, ahopper can'ied by the arm, a shaft trunnioned on the arm and hopper andbeing turned by a motor, an auger positioned in the hopper secured tothe shaft and being turned thereby, and a distributing element securedto the shaft and rotatable therewith, said shaft afiiially aligned withthe said candy floss mac ne.

3. In combination with a candy floss machine, a mechanism comprising aplate on which the floss machine is seated, and means to secure themachine concentrically on the plate, the plate having an extensionoutward from its peripheral edge, a sleeve vertically positioned andseated on the plate extension, an annular track secured to the upper endof the sleeve a short distance downward from its end, the track beingdepressed I at intervals around its upper face, an arm telescopicallyengaging with the sleeve, rollers carried by the arm and adapted toengage the track as carrying means for the arm, said rollers seating intheir respective depressions when the arm is turned, functioning asdetents to retain the arm in a predetermined position as turned,- saidarm having a right angle bend intermediate its ends, said right anglebent portion being horizontally disposed, a hopper for popped com, avertically disposed shaft carried by the said right angle bent portion,said arm being adapted to carry a motor, means to connect the motor withthe shaft to turn the same, an auger positioned in the hopper, securedto and rotatable with the shaft, a disc positioned in the bottom of thehopper, said disc and bottom being apertured in registry, means to turnthe disc to close and open the apertures partially or entirely, adistributor secured to the shaft at its lower extremity. the distributorbeing in working relation to the hopper to receive and dispense thepopped corn dropping thereon from the hopper, the floss machine having afloss dispensing head axially aligned with the distributor, whereby thepopped corn and floss are intermixed when they leave their respectivesource of ejection.

4. A mechanism of the class described, comprising a standard and meansto support the standard vertically. the standard being jointed, wherebyits upper portion is carried by the lower portion in such a way as topermit turning of the upper portion in either direction, and means toautomatically detain the same at a selectedposition thereon, a hoppersecured to the upper aware:

portion and rockable therewith, said hopper functioning as a containerfor popped com, a shaft rotatably carried by said upper portion andhopper, power actuated means to turn the shaft, means on the shaft toagitate the popped corn in the hopper, said shaft extending through andbeneath the hopper, a distributor secured to the lower end of the shaftand rotatable therewith, means in the bottom of the hopper to dispense mpopped corn upon the distributor, and means on the distributor tooentriiugally dispense the popped com therefrom, said first meansadapted to receive a candy floss machine seated thereon, the flossmachine being axially aligned with said shaft and elements associatedtherewith, the floss machine and distributor coacting to intermix thepopped corn and floss simultaneously, all as. and for the purposespecified. CHARLES H. COOLEY. REGINALD B. SMITH.

